Month: August 2014

Great Divide – Wolfgang Doppelbock Lager Review

Posted on by Drews Brews Reviews

WolfgangAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Great Divide
Style: Doppelbock Lager
ABV: 8%
Cost: $12 (24oz)
Glassware: Pint
Temp: 45°F
Availability: Summer
Purchased@: The Foodery

Quick Take: Great Divide created a smooth beer with a toffee body, backbone and full skeletal system, but without the over sweet. The phrase “over sweet” is important here as an earthy sweetness is still a key player, but in a drinkable, ESB kind of way. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you, but Wolfgang shares enough traits with malty Doppelbocks and English pub beers to potentially satisfy both crowds.

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Cambridge Brewing Co. – Tripel Threat Review

Posted on by Drews Brews Reviews

CambridgeAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Cambridge Brewing
Style: Tripel
ABV: 10%
Cost: $14 (24oz) – (Suggested retail – $6.95)
Glassware: Snifter, Tulip, Goblet
Temp: 55°F
Availability: Variable
Purchased@: The Foodery

Quick Take: Simple flavors and heavy yeast emphasis gives this a different body and complexion. This is a Tripel brimming with Belgian yeast that drinks like a boozy summer beer and avoids the traditional sweet, bubble gum or banana qualities. For me, I’d have this as a change of pace Tripel, but it’s not my first choice.

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Stone Brewing – 18th Anniversary IPA Review

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Stone 18th AnniversaryAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Stone Brewing
Style: Brown IPA
ABV: 8.5%
Cost: $11 (24oz)
Glassware: Tulip, Pint
Temp: 45°F
Availability: Limited (One and done)
Purchased@: The Fridge

Quick Take: Impressive malt and lemon/orange body the rampages through your mouth to the delight of this IPA lover…at first. Your mileage will vary depending on how intense you like the lemony sweetness of your beer and your feelings towards West Coast IPAs. Not really a bitter is better crowd beer either as the bitterness is along for the ride when this lemon comet of a beer takes off across your taste buds. I’m glad to have tried it, but the one bottle is enough for me this year.

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Episode 14 – The Lost Abbey – Agave Maria

Posted on by Drews Brews Reviews

Episode 14 of Drew’s Brews Reviews is here! The beer review show you never knew you wanted and no one needs. Tequila…my boozy nemesis. Oh how I thought we’d never meet again after that time at the beach post high school. Maybe it was you, maybe it was the liquid lemon concentrate we used for tequila shots when we couldn’t find a lemon that lead to painting a campground bathroom with a day’s food bounty… Regardless, I’m drinking Lost Abbey’s Agave Maria, a tequila barrel-aged American Strong Ale that is becoming an annual release for the brewer. This beer isn’t for the lite beer crowd, weighing in at hefty 13.5% with the price tag to go along with it.

Continue reading “Episode 14 – The Lost Abbey – Agave Maria” →

Anderson Valley – Pinchy Jeek Barl Review

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Pinchy JeekAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing
Style: Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 8.5%
Cost: $13 (24oz)
Glassware: Pint, Snifter
Temp: 45°F
Availability: ????
Purchased@: Hunger-N-Thirst

Quick Take: At 8.5%, barrel beer chasers that aren’t big on boozy beer taste and favor drinkability over drunkability may find something (anything!) to like here. If you are expecting a rich, full flavored, spiced pumpkin beer, you should keep on looking. If you want a beer that is so lightly flavored it is damn near ghostly, you’ve found your fall drinker.

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